In the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy, he made 816 runs at 74.18. He followed that with 674 runs at 56.16 in 2024-25

Shashank Kishore27-Jul-2025N Jagadeesan, the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper, has earned a maiden Test call up ahead of India’s fifth and final Test against England starting on Thursday at The Oval.He replaced Rishabh Pant, who fractured his right foot while batting in the first innings in just-concluded Old Trafford Test.Jagadeesan, 29, is understood to have received his visa early on Sunday morning and will link up with the squad in London by Tuesday. He will be a back-up for Dhruv Jurel, who kept wicket in both the third and fourth Tests as a substitute to cover for Pant’s injuries – in the third Test, Pant had a finger injury.Related

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Jagadeesan has been on the fringes of the India A setup for a while. He has topped the run charts for Tamil Nadu two seasons back-to-back in the Ranji Trophy. In 2023-24, he made 816 runs in 13 innings at 74.18. He followed that with 674 runs in 13 innings at 56.16 in 2024-25.While Jagadeesan didn’t make the India A cut for the shadow tour to England, he’s been part of a wider pool of targeted players shortlisted by the BCCI’s centre of excellence over the past 12 months. As a batter, he’s also shown adaptability to play in different batting positions.He has built a formidable domestic record since making his first-class debut in 2016. He averages 47.50 and has aggregated 3373 runs in 79 innings, with ten hundreds and 14 half-centuries, with a best of 321 against Chandigarh in January 2024.Jagadeesan was most recently in action earlier this month for Chepauk Super Gillies in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, hitting a 41-ball 81 in his last T20 innings on July 4. This will be Jagadeesan’s second tour of the UK, after having earlier led a Tamil Nadu Colts team last year.

Worcestershire old boys increase threat of relegation as title-chasers take charge

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay08-Sep-2025Nottinghamshire kept their Rothesay County Championship title challenge on track as they bowled Worcestershire out for 182 on the opening day at Visit Worcestershire New Road.Former Worcestershire seamers Dillon Pennington and Josh Tongue reduced their former team-mates to 53 for 6 before Gareth Roderick and Tom Taylor offered some resistance.Nottinghamshire closed the first day on 46 for 1 to lay a strong platform for a victory which would keep their surprise title-bid right on track – and pretty much relegate Worcestershire to Division Two.Nottinghamshire chose to bowl in anticipation of early life in the pitch. They found plenty to reduce the home side to 37 for 5 in the 15th over. Pennington struck the first two blows, unfurling a lifter to take Rehaan Edavalath’s edge through to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne and jagging one back in to trap Kashif Ali lbw.Three wickets then fell on 37. Tongue removed Jake Libby, caught behind, and Brett D’Oliviera, off stump flattened, with the last two balls of an over. When Pennington pinned Daniel Lategan (making his debut, the 556th player to play first class cricket for Worcestershire) lbw, three wickets had fallen in five balls.Tongue was mightily close to a hat-trick at the start of the next over when Roderick survived a huge lbw shout, but the next wicket wasn’t long coming as Worcestershire stirred some self-destruction into their difficult morning. Ethan Brookes played Pennington to mid-off, saw a single that wasn’t there and was well-beaten by Haseeb Hameed’s direct hit.When Matthew Waite clipped Lyndon James to midwicket just after lunch, it was were 86 for 7 but Roderick and Taylor rebuilt sensibly against strangely defensive fields. They added 71 in 17 overs and Taylor was deeply frustrated to sky a pull at Tongue and perish minutes before rain arrived to trigger an early tea.After a gloriously atmospheric hour, with forked lightning flickering amid the fusion of dark greys and greens of grass, trees, sky and cathedral at this dazzling venue, Nottinghamshire polished off the innings. Pennington pinned Ben Allison lbw and Roderick, having dug out a fighting 102-ball half-century, was lbw, sweeping, to Liam Patterson-White.Nottinghamshire lost skipper Hameed, bowled by Taylor, to the second ball of their innings. The pitch continued to offer some movement and good carry but Ben Slater and Freddie McCann, not without some playing and missing, added an unbroken 46 in 16 overs to the close to leave the east Midlands county still scenting a big first innings lead, a victory and, later this month, their seventh County Championship title.

Orla Prendergast claims three wickets as hosts subside once again at Chelmsford

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay13-Sep-2025The Blaze 59 for 0 (S Bryce 33*) beat Essex 211 (Smale 41, Prendergast 3-43) by 35 runs (DLS) Orla Prendergast led the wickets charge as The Blaze won a rain-affected encounter with Essex at Chelmsford to book a home semi-final at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.Prendergast took 3 for 43, including a momentum shifting double strike to help bowl out the hosts for 211. Her efforts were ably supported by Lucy Higham’s 2 for 33 and some outstanding out-fielding, typified by Kathryn’s Bryce’s run-out of Ariana Dowse.Six of Essex’s batters reached double figures, but only Sophia Smale (41) got beyond 40, Jo Gardner making a run-a-ball 36. The pair added 52 for the seventh wicket after the hosts collapsed from 104 for 2 to 133 for 6.Blaze openers Sarah Bryce (33 not out) and Georgie Boyce had knocked 59 off the target in 11.2 overs when the weather closed in.Dowse and skipper Grace Scrivens gave the hosts a a solid start, the former caressing one through the covers and driving another square for four. Scrivens reached 16 before mishitting a half-tracker from opposite number Kirstie Gordon to square leg and a brilliant pick up and throw from Katherine Bryce ran out Dowse for 20.The response to the double setback was good with Lissy Macleod (30) and Lancashire loanee Liberty Heap (33) targeting the straight boundaries in a stand of 59 at almost a run a ball. Essex looked poised to push on, but Heath’s demise, top edging a short one from Prendergast to midwicket sparked a mid-innings slump.Flo Miller was another Prendergast victim and when Higham sent Macleod packing courtesy of a stunning caught and bowled, three wickets had fallen for six runs in 16 balls.Higham then bowled Amara Carr with a beauty, before Smale and Gardner rallied the home side’s flagging effort, the latter striking the ball powerfully back past the bowler in the mid-on/mid-off arc.But before they could entertain hopes of a score of 250, Prendergast splayed Gardner’s stumps and thereafter only Smale who was last out held up The Blaze for long.The bad weather was closing in by the time The Blaze began their reply, Sarah Bryce and Georgie Boyce immediately showing aggressive intent. Bryce hit Gray for the only six of the match while Boyce three times struck the ball firmly to the fence along the floor.By the time rain drove the players from the field enough overs had been completed to constitute a match and The Blaze were a mile ahead on the DLS and looking forward to a semi-final.

Newcastle could be in store for a busy end to the transfer window as they inch closer towards a deal for Inter Milan’s Valentino Lazaro, according to Sky Sports’ Keith Downie.

What’s the latest?

News broke of the Magpies’ interest in the Inter Milan player last week, with Steve Bruce admitting he was a target of interest following his agent’s visit to St. James’ Park last weekend.

However, the proposed move was cast into doubt when RB Leipzig also showed an interest in the versatile player, who can play wing-back, but Downie has now reported that a medical will now take place tomorrow.

He has added that there will be an option in the deal to make the move permanent for £20m, while journalist Fabrizio Romano has said the loan fee is set at €1.5m [£1.2m].

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Problems at wing-back?

The north-east outfit have been after the Inter player for a significant period of timeÂand given how the match against Everton played out Steve Bruce may be more determined than ever to add him to his squad.

Newcastle snatched a draw at Goodison Park but they were outplayed by the home side, who enjoyed eight shots on target compared to Newcastle’s three, with the possession split 55%-45% in favour of the Toffees.

Injury issues hindered the Magpies with Allan Saint-Maximin unavailable and Jonjo Shelvey being rested, but it was right wing-back that was a key position of weakness.

Both Javier Manquillo and DeAndre Yedlin were unavailable once again, leading Bruce to opt to play Isaac Hayden out of position, as he had done against Chelsea.

That highlights the lack of faith he has in Emil Krafth, and if the injuries to Manquillo and Yedlin are serious then it is easy to understand why he is so keen on Lazaro.

Who the heck is that?! Can you name all 25 of these obscure Newcastle signings…

In truth, even with all of his players fit the right wing-back position is one that is in need of improvement. Yedlin’s seven league starts suggests Bruce doesn’t have confidence in him, and Manquillo doesn’t provide the dynamism needed to be an effective attacking threat.

That is evidenced by his 70% pass accuracy, not to mention the fact that he has averaged 0.7 dribbles and 0.2 key passes per game this term, as per WhoScored.

Lazaro has just four starts this season, but last year he managed nine goal contributions for Hertha Berlin as well as 1.1 dribbles and 1.8 key passes per league game, indicating that he would be able to increase Newcastle’s attacking threat and therefore act as an upgrade on Newcastle’s current options.

Newcastle’s transfer activity may not stop with the Austrian, however, with their eye reportedly set on another exciting target.

Arsenal star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is looking to emulate Gunners team-mate Alexis Sanchez and revealed that he is learning a great deal from his performances, according to reports from the Express.

Sanchez finally scored his first league goal of the campaign on Saturday when his side faced Leicester City, eventually finishing the game with a hat-trick in a 5-2 victory.

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The Chile international will therefore be confident of maintaining his fine form ahead of their Champions League clash against Olympiakos this Tuesday, and Oxlade-Chamberlain is hoping to match his team-mates level after Arsene Wenger urged him to have more belief in his abilities.

He said: “I saw the comments from the boss that I needed more self-belief. That’s what my dad says as well. So there might be a little bit of a trend there!

“I am quite critical of myself. I try to demand high standards of myself. Sometimes that can work in a negative fashion. I need to work on that.

“Self-belief is a massive part of the game. I might need to start showing I believe in myself around here.”

Oxlade-Chamberlain added that Sanchez is a role model in training, and that he learns from him every day despite his lower proficiency in speaking English.

“For someone like me to look at how many goals he (Sanchez) scored last year makes it hard for me not to look at him and learn from him,” he added.

“It’s his everyday mannerisms around the training ground, how he trains, his performances, how he scores goals, how he plays and how he defends from up front.

“These are all things that we can all learn, that everyone who watches football could learn from. I’ve definitely put myself in the bracket of somebody who learns from him every day.

“He’s very passionate, very upbeat and is a massive character in the team. For someone that doesn’t have amazing English, he manages to communicate so well to all of us and keep the dressing room upbeat.”

The Gunners will host top-of-the-table Manchester United at the Emirates this weekend in what is expected to be an epic encounter between the two rivals.

Oxlade-Chamberlain, 22, made 37 appearances in all competitions last season, scoring three goals.

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Boring, boring, boring. That’s the view of Manchester United from where Paul Scholes sits, or something to that effect anyway.

And these days Scholes is often sitting on a TV pundits’ panel overlooking Manchester United games. So his view is probably even better than ours. And Paul, we’re seeing the same thing.

It’s not that United are boring, as such. It’s just that, well, on the pitch they’re boring. Which makes them very interesting for anyone who wants to write about them. Frankly, who doesn’t love reading about Louis Van Gaal? Who doesn’t love seeing him riled up? Who doesn’t love baiting the bear?

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Except, aren’t United on track in the Premier League? Ok, they drew against Palace in ultra-boring fashion at the weekend, but they’re still only four points behind the leading two. But perhaps that’s where any side including players like Mata, Herrera and Martial should sit, if not even higher up. United have a good team, it’s just that they’re not playing like a good team.

They have the best defensive record in the league, along with Arsenal. But when the teams you’re playing against are pretty much ok with a 0-0, and you don’t look like scoring, you’re going to have a fair few clean sheets. United’s problem is, of course, scoring goals. It’s the attacking record that sucks. They’ve managed 15 goals this season – the same amount as Norwich and two more than Sunderland, one fewer than Chelsea. Crisis clubs all.

Now, without wishing – and probably failing – to be too incendiary, if a manager like Sam Allardyce or Tony Pulis were the manager of Manchester United, where would they be? Probably in League 2 and battling it out against Crawley Town in the Johnstone’s Paint quarter finals. But possibly in a similar position. Having scored a small amount of goals, but have one of the best defensive records in the league.

These guys are seen as unsophisticated managers, and with good reason. But they know how to do the simple things in football. They know that overcomplicated is a sin, whereas doing the simple things well can put you in a good position. And getting the simple things right can give you a real platform to build upon.

So the first thing they’ll do when they come into a club is to sort out the defence. Once you stop conceding goals, you can try to add the goals later on. Once you start drawing 0-0 constantly, you can add the threat at the other end and start picking up 1-0 wins, and crucially points.

Louis Van Gaal is going in the opposite direction, however. His team dominate games, they pass it around and just dominate. But it’s a sterile domination. They do nothing with it. Like a lion prowling around in search of its prey. But they lack potency. They’re a lion who’s had a vasectomy. King of the jungle, but forced to enjoy the less obvious pleasures. Having no goals but 70% possession smacks of overcompensation….

When United welcome CSKA Moscow to Old Trafford tonight, they’ll face the same problem. A team who come to defend and maybe nick one on the break with some very good players who will pose United’s defence problems.

They’re top of their league, yet to lose domestically and hold a nine point lead at the top. They’re everything United wish they were, and they’re able to score goals.

It won’t be a boring night at Old Trafford, but that might be less because of what happens on the pitch and more about what happens off it. Everyone’s talking about United because they don’t give us enough to talk about on the pitch.

Tonight might be boring. But it won’t be dull.

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Although Jurgen Klopp’s improving Liverpool side did in-fact manage to register a positive result against Swansea City last time out, the future of their first choice ‘keeper between the sticks remains incredibly murky at Anfield.

For one reason or another, Simon Mignolet has never quite adjusted to his current position as Liverpool’s preferred shot-stopper, leading Reds fans to question why the Belgian goalkeeper was even signed at their club in the first place.

The January transfer window therefore offers Klopp the chance to replace his rather unpredictable no. 22 in favour of a much more suitable option, should the enigmatic German coach eventually decide to take pragmatic action this winter.

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His side have subsequently been linked with a vast array of talent so far this season, with Stoke City’s Jack Butland being singled out as the supposed first choice goalkeeping target on Merseyside.

However, as the rising Potters star will reportedly cost in the region of £20million if certain reports are to be believed – must Liverpool really move for Jack Butland this January, or should the Reds hierarchy ultimately point their resources elsewhere?

Well, Jack Butland would certainly represent an improvement on Simon Mignolet. Although we are yet to see just how reliable the 22-year-old shot-stopper really is, Liverpool’s current first choice goalie has simply made one too many mistakes to be taken seriously these days.

Mignolet isn’t an entirely useless ‘keeper by any accounts, he’s just not quite worthy of representing a side clearly trying to aim for bigger and better things this season. After a series of ridiculous antics against Bordeaux in the Europa League last week, it seems as if the 27-year-old goalkeeper hasn’t learnt from his previous mistakes at Anfield – subsequently casting serious doubt over his ability to help Liverpool improve as an all-round collective unit.

Jack Butland has conversely been in rather impressive form throughout the 2015/16 campaign thus far, keeping Stoke City in several important matches that could have easily gotten away from them. The 22-year-old is also expected to push Joe Hart for the no. 1 England jersey in the run up to Euro 2016, so Liverpool certainly wouldn’t be aiming too low in trying to source the in-demand Potters favourite this January.

The major stumbling-block standing in the way of the Reds in this deal, though, arrives in the form of Stoke City’s reported £20million asking price. It would be absolutely ridiculous for any club to spend that much on Butland at this early stage in his career, especially for a club like Liverpool, who have wasted more than enough resources on over-priced English players in the past.

It’s crazy how half a decent season in the Premier League is all it really takes to be labelled a £20million player in the modern era. Although Jack Butland has certainly looked promising so far, we’ve barely even known his name long enough to become accustomed to the 22-year-old’s services.

Joe Hart was clearly over-rated when he first burst onto the scene of course – and after a succession of major errors in the Manchester City net over the last few seasons, some are already calling into question his validity as Roy Hodgson’s first choice England ‘keeper this season.

Yes, competition for Butland could well increase in the not too distant future, but should that point alone force the Reds to act without consideration this January? Of course not.

With everything taken into account, Liverpool could easily look to land Jack Butland in light of Simon Mignolet’s fluctuating performances of late. However, as their current main man between the sticks hasn’t been completely awful throughout the duration of his entire Reds career, Klopp would seemingly be somewhat mad to spend £20million on a replacement goalkeeper – when he could arguably wait until the summer and sign Butland for a fraction of his current price.

The emerging Stoke City star looks good at this stage in the season for sure, but nowhere near that good.

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